Current Education Technology Hurdles, Accelerators, and Enablers: CoSN’s 2026 Driving K-12 Innovation Report

About the Presenters

Over a 31-year career in education, Dr. Doug Brubaker has served as a teacher, principal, district-level leader, and superintendent in school districts ranging in size from 7,000 to 60,000 students. He is completing his tenth year as a superintendent and his first as Superintendent of Chesapeake Public Schools, a high-performing school system of 40,000 students in Virginia. Highlights of his career have included implementation of stakeholder-developed strategic plans, sustained gains in student achievement, and voter approval of over $300 million in capital improvements. Dr. Brubaker has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas, an M.Ed. from Texas Christian University, a Ph.D. from the University of North Texas, and CoSN CETL certification. He serves on the CoSN/AASA EmpowerED Superintendents Advisory Panel. He and his wife, Heather, have been married for 28 years and have a daughter who attends school in the district.

Karen Cheser, Ed.D., is Superintendent of the Durango School District in Durango, CO, and the 2025 CoSN/AASA EmpowerEd Digital Superintendent of the Year. She previously served as Superintendent of Fort Thomas Independent Schools and Deputy Superintendent/CAO of Boone County Schools in Kentucky, following earlier roles as teacher, coach, literacy/math specialist, principal, and district administrator. Dr. Cheser has driven innovation and workforce-readiness initiatives across SW Colorado and Northern KY, including the Impact Career Innovation Center, NKY MakerSpace, and Ignite Institute. Her leadership includes national roles with EdLeader21, CoSN, and SEEC, plus local board and chamber leadership in both regions. A 2025 Fulbright Leader for Global Schools, she holds numerous honors, including a 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award and 2013 KY District Administrator of the Year. She earned her Ed.D. from NKU. Dr. Cheser is a mom of two, a wife to an entrepreneur, and enjoys travel and coaching robotics.

Glenn Robbins is the proud Superintendent of the Brigantine Public School District in Brigantine, New Jersey. He has served as a public school superintendent in New Jersey since 2016. Prior to becoming a superintendent, he was a middle school principal, a high school assistant principal, a high school social studies teacher, and a high school varsity coach. He is also the best-selling author of Calm In The Chaos: Ancient Stoic Wisdom for Successful School Leadership, I Won’t Back Down: How Educators Can Turn Rejection Into Redirection, and Unclench Your Fist: The Leader’s Guide To Making The Hard Call (And Surviving It). He is also a sought-after speaker. Glenn has been recognized across the globe for his innovative school and district improvement methods and has been featured in numerous conferences, books, podcasts, and other publications. Glenn is passionate about helping school leaders create schools where every student and educator can have the opportunity to succeed to their utmost potential.

Laura Geringer is the Project Director for CoSN’s Driving K-12 Innovation Initiative and EdTech Innovation Committee. As founder of PumpkinBerry Consulting, she helps education leaders bring clarity to complexity, energize collaboration, and design learning experiences that people want to be part of. She’s known for her combination of ingenuity and organization: designing highly creative solutions and the processes that make them reality. With a master’s in international higher education from Loyola University and a B.A. in film production from Northwestern University, Laura has dedicated 15+ years to combining experience design and visual media in education. At PumpkinBerry, Laura partners with learning-centric organizations to: design and guide processes that engage communities of practice, facilitate innovation through collaborative experiences, and produce strategic resources that drive impact. She also designs experiential learning escape rooms that are engaging and rigorous.

About the Moderator

Ann McMullan is Project Director for CoSN’s EmpowerED Superintendents Initiative, created in partnership with AASA, The School Superintendents Association. Ann served as Executive Director for Educational Technology in Klein ISD, near Houston, Texas, until September 2013, when she and her family moved to Los Angeles, California. For 16 years, Ann led the district team that provided professional development on technology and 21st century instructional strategies to 4,000 educators serving 50,000 students. She was Co-chair of the Texas Education Technology Advisory Committee, which developed the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. Today, Ann works as a public speaker, writer, and consultant focused on leadership to meet the needs of today’s students. Ann serves on the edWeb.net Advisory Board. Ann is co-author of Life Lessons in Leadership.